1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to communication networks, and more particularly to communication networks having high channel/bandwidth capacity, high efficiency, fault tolerance, and network survivability.
2. Related Art
The ever-increasing demand in communication services has directed network technology into new network architectures and a mix of communication media not contemplated before. Broadband multi-media, including voice, interactive video, and personal communications services, using fiber, coaxial cable, and twisted pair, are currently being planned for implementation in the near future. The multi-billion dollar information highway contracts being award by a number of telephone companies is a testimony of this reality. However, such broadband multi-media represents real-time services that require communication networks having high channel/bandwidth capacity, high efficiency, fault tolerance, and network survivability.
Local area networks (LANs) are also affected by the movement towards multimedia. For performance reasons, the LANs which connect to broadband multi-media networks (i.e., communication networks which support broadband multi-media services) must be very high speed. Accordingly, the market is considering moving from the typical 10 Mbps (megabit per second) LAN to 100 Mbps (or higher) switched ATM (asynchronous transfer node) or equally fast Ethernet. See, for example, "What's the Successor to 10 Mbit/s Ethernet? ", OEM Magazine, pp. 12-13, May 1994. To support multi-media services, however, it is not enough to simply increase the speed of LANs. Instead, LANs must be able to efficiently transport data in real-time, and must be characterized by communication network attributes such as intelligence and survivability.